Spring Bottom fishing trip anyone???

[DOVERPOWER]

I just read this weeks fisherman mag that capt.Monty Hawkins formely of the O.C. princess is buying a new boat.It is a 51 foot party boat that will be docked in Ocean city,Md.The good news is that he is only goin to fish a small amount of fisherman off the boat.The cost will be $70-80 per angler for a 8 hour bottom fishing trip.For those of you who know of Capt Monty he is a first rate Captian ,I say we plan a p&s trip toghther.It will be tog and black bass polozza......anyone intereted???

[Duke of Fluke]

Wreck fishing is my specialty, I am in. Check out my seabass report on the Jersey page. 30 guys each with 25 fish limits. All fish were 3-5 lbs with the pool winner over 6lbs. That is one big seabass. It was an 8 hour boat ride each way to the grounds, but well worth it.

[catman]

I'm in. I've fished with Capt. Monty a number of times and he always put us on good fish. The last time out was exceptional. As you know the sea bass reg. is 11 1/2" with 25 fish per day/possession. Within the 2 hrs just about everyone had 1/2 their limit of quality fish. Hugh 3-4 lb. doubles were common with many in the 5-6 lb. range. Pulling these guys out of 60' of water puts a hurtin in the arms and wrist so we switched to using just one hook. Everyone limited out in under 6 hrs and all agreed to call it a day with still 2 hrs of fishing remaining. I thought I had the pool won with a 7 1/2 pounder. No such luck. A guy with a 10 pounder won and there were a lot of fish in the 8 lbs range. Capt. Monty said these are days he prays for. Best trip I ever had. So yes, I'm in any time.

Catman.

[HuskyMD]

Never done that sort of thing. Anyone in for teaching a new dog old tricks?

[Sandcrab]

"It was an 8 hour boat ride each way to the grounds, but well worth it."

You have to be kidding? How deep is the water you are fishing? Is this deep sea fishing as in 200 ft/heavy 1 lb sinkers/etc. or is this shallower water fishing?

I might go but I'm not out to buy any new equipment to handle super heavy weights.

[Anthony]

The boat that Captain Monty has purchased is a 55ft boat called the Morning Star. I have been wreck fishing with Monty for about 10 years now and have never been disappointed. A slow day for Monty is a normal day for everyone else. He is the best when it comes to wreck fishing in Ocean City. I believe the price will be $70 for an 8-hour trip mainly focusing on sea bass and possibly tautog. Anyway I am in so let's set a date. I believe he will start going out in March but am not sure yet. We will have to make reservations way ahead because the trips are limited to 25 people and with each reservation will be a boat position.
-Anthony

[Duke of Fluke]

Sandcrab,
That trip was off NJ. The depths were 200-250 feet. Most guys were using 16 to hold. If you do not have the gear, the boat has rentals. Some guys were lucky enough to have electric reels. Even with the long cranking, the trip was lots of fun. The fish put up a decent fight even with the heavy tackle.

Our next trip will be a cod trip in April on Georges bank up in Mass, followed by a May tilefish trip on the same boat we did the seabass trip. The tile fish trip will occur on the wall of the Hudson canyon in depths around 700 feet!


The trips out of OC will not require as much lead or heavy tackle as they usually fish much shallower water. The offshore deepwater thing only happens in the middle of winter. The only way you can catch the fish is to go way offshore to the wintering grounds. To my knowledge, nobody in the DE/MD area does this type of trip. I suspect you would be able to get away with 10 ounces or less for a spring trip off OC.


Husky,

There is nothing to it. Bait up a top and bottom rig with clam or squid drop to the bottom, reel up the slack when you feel a bite set the hook and reel them up. Better yet, set the hook take two cranks to get the fish out of the snag then wait for 30 or 40 seconds and set the hook again and bring them up two at a time! I do have a few special rigs I know how to tie that will substantially increase the amount of bites you get though. Tog fishing is a different story, you can catch them on the same trips, but they are a little trickier. I can help with that though.

Jamey

[Sandcrab]

DOF,

Thanks for the info. I use the standard rule for deep water fishing "1 oz per 10 ft of water" and this sounded like a California rock cod adventure (broomstick rods, rod plates for laying them on the rails, etc).

Thanks for clearin that up. ;)

[HuskyMD]

So you use stiff boat rids to handle the 10 ounces?
Or since you don't have to cast it, are the rods not as thick as I'm imagining?

[Sandcrab]

Usually the use of conventional rods and reels prevail during the Winter months as you need to be able to handle heavy weights. I have a bunch of party boat rods that are 7' and handle up to 10 ounces. I normally use 30 or 40 lb test line. I would like to try the braided lines if I am going to go deep as they are more sensitive.

[catman]

Husky...It's really pretty simple. I use a 6 1/2' med. action saltwater spinning rod with a Penn saltwater jigging reel with 20 lb. test and 50 lb. leader. A two hook bottom rig with just enough weight to feel the bottom is all that's needed. Normally you're fishing in no more than 60' of water off of OC when bottom fishing. 4 to 6 oz. of lead is plenty to get 20lb. mono to the bottom. I use the least amount of weight possible. Perhaps we should set a date ASAP to get a spot reserved. Does Capt Monty have a email address or a web site?

Catman.

[Sandcrab]

I'm up for an OC trip. Let me know the details so I can check my schedule and plan for it.

[DOVERPOWER]

Im thinking mid-late april
weekday or weekend wich
would be best?

[Duke of Fluke]

Mid april, shortly after mackerel leave. I think earlier than that he will be targetting macks, which is not my cup of tea. Late April is out for me as my Cod trip is the last weekend of the month.

These are just my preferences though. Majority rules I guess.

[catman]

Any time in April if fine with me. It's hard to tell about the mackerel run. Sometimes it's over by April and other times it's still here at the end of the month. All depended on water temp. but with the cold winter we've been having I wouldn't be surprised if the run was in March. April 20th is Easter Sunday and a lot of people have Good Friday off. I wouldn't mind fishing Good Friday and staying overnight at the Talbot Inn on Thursday.

Catman.

[HuskyMD]

My birthday is late April--sounds like a good birthday present.

Would this be a saturday trip or a weekday trip (either is fine as long as I have enough advance notice)?

[Anthony]

In my experience, May is the best month for the huge humpbacks, but October is the best bet for limiting out. But again with Captain Monty, it shouldn't be a problem limiting out. It doesn't really matter when we go, just set a date and I'm there.
-Anthony

[catman]

The OC Princess was sold and moved to New York. Here's the link to Capt. Monty's Morningstar.web page (http://www.ocfishing.com/fleet/morningstar.html).

Catman.

[Squishy]

Geez, for a Hebron from WV, I seem to have all the tackle to do this. But, Uhhh... I'm gonna be in Tampa the 1st of April, on a Grouper, Snapper & Amberjack levitating Expedition in the Gulf of Mexico. So I'll have to pass on April. But, Hmmmmm..... September, October ? I got the website on my bookmarks, though. Pssssst. Cabelas has a rod for $20, that will handle the line to bottom fish, up to #50 test. Item ID-116353, Model WSSH72-2.
http://www.cabelas.com

Sports Authority.com has the line (Don't bother going to the retail store for fishing line in January) at:
http://www.thesportsauthority.com

[DOVERPOWER]

This just sent to me from catman

Hi Doverpower,
I just spoke with Capt Monty's wife (guess that's who she was) about ticket reservations on the Morningstar. She said that weren't taking any reservations until May 1st. Monty is currently getting the boat ready for the season. Initially reservation will be made by phone using a credit card. They'll send a gift certificate for the particular day requested.

So looks more like may
I think the best way to handle this is all of us agree on a date and call in pay for our tickets.
any other sugestions ?

[Sandcrab]

Pick a day and let us know. I work Mon-Fri so a Saturday trip would be work for me.

[Squishy]

As an addendum to my previous post, Cabelas also has a reel that could be used with up to #50 test line. The SS-80(Cabelas website, click on "saltwater fishing", then "reels", then "cabelas".) , which at 27.9 oz., and 310/#20 line capacity should have the strength & capacity for a headboat trip. Yes, this is a spinning rig, but every headboat I've been on recently had rod holders, and it was no problem to use a heavy spinning rig. Obviously, you wouldn't use this rig if you were fishing for 90Lb Grouper or Black Drum, but we're talking entry level here, and $90 is about as low as you'll get a decent rig to fish a headboat. The weird thing is that they sell this reel for $30, if you buy the 12Ft surf rod combo. Don't want to spring for the $90 ? Rent one !

[TomL]

If you are taking thses offshore seabass trips you need to be aware of the records. I read all the time about people getting 8 pounders on these trips in NJ. However, the NJ state record is only a bit over 8 lbs. I don't know what the MD state record is.

Either people aren't aware of this or these 8 lb fish swallowed a few 16 ounce sinkers.

[catman]

TomL... The Black Sea Bass record in Maryland in 8 lbs. 0 oz. set in 1978. By no means does this indicate that sea bass over 8 lbs. aren't caught. I think it's safe to say that fish larger than this are caught every year and not reported as is the case of the 10 pounder on my trip last year. The mate told him he had a record bass but it didn't seem important to him. I've never caught a record size fish but I've caught my share of citation size fish and never registered them. To some people it's important to be recognized, to others it's not.

Catman. ;)

[HuskyMD]

I personally can't see the point of a citation.

[Sea Critter]

Anyone have the url for the new boat. I've been on the OC Princess a couple of times and can attest that I've maxed out on most of them (Sea Bass)... the true mark of a great captain.

Have the 8 hour trips been discontinued? I only see 4 hour trips listed on the ocfish.com site.

[catman]

Sea Critter...Here you go. This should provide all the info you need.


web page (http://www.morningstarfishing.com/index.html)

[oldsalt]

$70 bucks no crowd good deal. :D

[Sea Critter]

Thanks Catman. That's an awesome deal, and I like the idea of getting to choose the spot.

# 3 and #4 or #17 and #18 are usually where I usually try to camp out... with my big mug of coffee. :D

[catman]

Sea Critter...The #3/#4 spot won the pool the last time I was out. I like the #24-25 and the #21-22. Only problem back there is there's no place to sit other than your cooler.

Catman.

[PlankCaster]

Squishy,
Interesting you bring up the use of spinning setups. I notice on a lot of the head boats in teh upper Bay in Maryland customers use spinning reels for spot and croaker and such. When I fish out of Rudee Inlet or Lynhaven in VA Beach I personolly use a Fenwick Atlantic standup rod rated for 17-30lb test matched with a Penn Jigmaster reel and 30lb Trilene Big Game. This setup will hold 10 ounces though i usually only need 8. Just thought I'd throw that out there :D
Tight lines and popped riggers